Crabs may not seem unusual,
but there's one kind here that's like
no other
on this little island in Vanuatu
lives a real oddity.
It's the largest terrestrial invertebrate
on earth.
The rubber crab,
the biggest can weigh up to four kilograms,
the same as a newborn baby and have a leg span of one meter.
It's a hermit crab on steroids.
At night,
the huge robber's really come alive.
Although these crimes are found throughout the Pacific,
it's only on undisturbed islands that you can see them
in such numbers.
Exactly why
Robert crabs have grown so big is a mystery.
But with so few creatures making it to these remote islands,
the giant crustaceans seem to have filled a niche
normally taken by medium sized mammals
and with almost no competition from other native animals.
The crabs huge size allows them to make the most of another great colonizer,
something found here in abundance.
Coconuts are one of their favorite foods.
It's why they're also called coconut crabs, and they've been known
to carry them as far as five kilometers back to a favorite den.
Robert Crabs
are perhaps the only animals in the world able
to break into a coconut.
The husk is ripped off by powerful pincers.
Other legs drilled through the germinating holes on the seed itself
until the nut finally cracks.
The whole process can take several hours,
but the reward is a meal rich in protein.
Robert Crabs
may rule the land, but they're no masters of the sea.
An adult crab would drown in a few minutes,
which raises the question
how did these monsters get to so many of the South Pacific's
most isolated islands?
This female carries
the onset of thousands of eggs,
which will soon be left to the mercy of the ocean currents.
A few shakes of her tail
are all that's needed to send them on their way.
The eggs will hatch immediately.
Then the larvae will have just 50 days to find a new home.
Above the water.